The iconic Royal Hotel building in Williamstown has sold at auction on Saturday for $2,806,000.
The three-storey building at 85 Nelson Place was built in 1890 following the demolition of an earlier building on the site.
It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register as being “one of the most richly ornamented and highly mannered examples of red brick hotels in Victoria“.
The property was first put on the market by an out-of-area agent last October, before Sweeney Estate Agents Williamstown took over the sale in February.
Featuring 19 period rooms, six bathrooms and five kitchens, the building had been used as a boarding house operated by Unison Housing.
It sits on a 973-square-metre block with a deep rear garden extending to Aitken Street.
Sweeney director Dean Stanley said there had been four bidders and the buyers were developer investors.
“It was an iconic property,“ he said.
“It was one of the top three best facades on Nelson Place and has two street frontages.
“The thing was, it needs a whole lot of work, that was the problem.
“I think someone would have had to spend $2 million just to get it right.“
